just draw your own travel map. >> and we are going to take a look at your surface map. that is right here. lots of high pressure across the area. that's why we'll have the light northeast winds with the high right to the northeast of us. if you have travel plans today, the east coast, including atlanta over towards d.c., maybe even new york, a few delays possible with some rain. even some heavier rain at times as well. >> i love how this guy did this. this went on throughout the entire morning show as they scrambled to get computers back up and running. he even made graphics of the changing forecast of his mood. >> this is how i felt this morning. this is how i felt when i realized i could draw everything, and when i realized we're finally getting the computers back, this is how i feel right now. >> i like the hair color. >> well, i had to utilize the blue highlighter. >> finally, after an hour and a half, the computer was finally fixed. but the question is would it work? >> see if it works. ready? go back to weather one. >> there it is! >> we got it. >> excellent. >> thank you to everybody involved this morning. >> i like yours better. >> i got to say, i kind of like

the hand drawn ones better myself. it kind of makes me want to set up a pictionary game between that guy and chad myers. i'm just thankful i'll never have to draw my own graphics because it's always sunny here on the "rediculist." that's it for now. thanks for watching. "early start" begins right now. duped at notre dame. one of the most inspirational sports stories of the past year proves to be a hoax. but who is to blame? >> all the talk this morning. and is the dreamliner a lemon? boeing's troubled jumbo jet grounded in america and in europe as well. desert standoff. americans among those held captive right now by militants in algeria. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> we have a lot to talk about today. >> it's crazy. >> manti te'o is that story.

>> good morning. i'm zoraida sambolin. it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. it's the story everyone is talking about. notre dame star linebacker manti te'o claiming he was the victim of a hoax. deadspin.com ripped a hole in his story, leading the irish to the bcs title game while dealing with the death of a girlfriend with leukemia. but now it turns out the girlfriend didn't die, it turns out she never existed. >> reporter: university of notre dame athletic director fought back tears while discussing manti te'o at a news conference. he is convinced te'o was the victim of an elaborate hoax. >> the thing i'm most sad about is -- sorry. that the single most trusting

human being i've ever met will never be able to trust in the same way again. >> reporter: during the football season the story of the star linebacker enduring the death of his girlfriend and grandmother on the same day transcended sports. people from around the world were touched by how in love te'o seemed to be with lennay kekua, the girl he called his soul mate. >> i cried. i yelled. never felt that way before. this is six hours ago i just found my grandma passed away. you take, you know, the love of my life. >> reporter: on the day of his girlfriend's supposed funeral, te'o played football. after the game, notre dame's football coach, brian kelly, actually awarded the game ball to the girl we now know doesn't exist. >> award this game ball to lennay. i'd like manti to have this ball to take back to hawaii.

>> reporter: te'o told his coaches about the hoax december 26th. notre dame kept the truth under wraps despite the fact that the media was still telling the story leading up to the national championship game. >> the outset, we established a parameter that this was manti's story to tell. we wanted to know it would be told. we wanted to know at the appropriate time when it would be told. >> reporter: in m. peopmany peo think te'o's story doesn't add up. >> te'o's story that he's completely innocent in this doesn't shake through with us. >> reporter: what still isn't clear is why didn't mantei te'o never mention that he never met lennay when talking about how much he loved her. how did the story about how they first met at a football game start and if it wasn't true, why didn't he correct it? and how could he be so in love with someone he never actually met face to face? >> i think as manti tells the

story, will you see the same thing i saw t does fully line up. >> clearly we still need to hear from mani te'o about this. there are so many questions. from the beginning there was the story about how they met. they gazed at each other after a game in california that doesn't appeared to have happened. and how could this have gone on for so long. >> i take issue with the university having known as early as they did and not coming out saying, look, we're investigating this, or there's a separate entity investigating this, but this story seems to be a hoax. i don't get it. there are so many questions, you're right. we've been talking about it all morning long. did he ever really meet this woman? >> he didn't. he never met her. she didn't exist, and she didn't die. >> but did he say he met her or was that just information circulating based on what somebody thought they heard. so many layers. >> questions about honesty and about journalism here.

we will be talking about this for days to come. we do have other news now including winter storm warnings in effect today for mississippi to washington, d.c. meteorologist jennifer delgado with a look at that. >> hi. we've been talking about the heavy rain across parts of the south and now we're talking about snow. it's coming down now for areas including mississippi. you can see on the radar now it's coming down this morning. we'll continue to see those winter weather advisories in place for mississippi through the morning hours. then that storm system will shift over to the west and effect areas like alabama, especially later this afternoon and into the northern parts of georgia. right now for atlanta, you can see, for birmingham, we are just looking at heavy rainfall. again, we'll see that rain shifting over to snow. once we get more of that cold air working in, for washington, d.c. right now you are looking at rain, but you will see that snow working in as we get to the afternoon hours. here is a look at the winter weather advisories and warnings

out there. anywhere in pink and purple. in addition to this this will lead to driving problems. some of these areas will look at one to two inches of snowfall for parts of mississippi. then notice for western parts of virginia, some of these locations could see roughly four to six inches of snowfall in the higher elevations. we get snow in atlanta, they freak out down here. >> they don't go to work. they don't know how to plow it. just the reality here. >> you'll freak out a little bit, too. >> you'll get brave. >> brace yourself down there, jennifer. we have a lot of other major news, including a hostage crisis unfolding at this hour in a remote corner of algeria, where islamic terrorists are holding americans and other foreigners working at a natural gas complex. there could be as many as 41 hostages. the details of the kidnapping and the number held is hazy, but there is confirmation that 1

norwegians have been taken along with 5 japanese and 1 irish national, at least 3 americans, maybe more, and an unconfirmed british workers. one of whom was killed. we want to bring in elise lavin. reports say this attack was in response to france's military action in mali. what do you know about this? >> reporter: that's what this group who took these hostages, they call themselves the masked brigade, an al qaeda affiliate, if you l is saying this was in response for french intervention in mali. what i'm told by sources is that they could be using this as an excuse. this french intervention and algerians is very controversial among this group. but the level of planning that went into this attack suggests that is predates any type of french intervention, and they could just be using this to

protect the fact that they've been planning for so long. they're also looking for a few other things other than ending this intervention. they're looking for their prisoners that are held by algeria and others to be released to mali where the group is based. >> at this stage of the game right now there are so many hostages, as many as 40. what's being done to potentially free them? >> the algerians have the lead. they say they won't negotiate with the hostages, but clearly you have the united states, the british, other countries all there contemplating rescue attempts. we don't know yet what exactly they would do. but the u.s. does have a lot of assets in the region. it's possible they could be thinking about some kind of rescue operation. right now algerians are surrounding the compound. >> all right. elise labbot this morning, thank you very much. president obama's call for new legislation to reduce gun violence is receiving a cool

reception on capitol hill. on wednesday the president unveiled a list of proposals including a ban on the sale of assault weapons and instituting background checks on all gun sales. he released his proposals one month after the massacre in newtown, connecticut that killed 20 first graders and six adults. >> if there is even one thing we can do to reduce this violence, if there's even one life that can be saved, then we have an obligation to try. >> athere are many members of congress who believe gun control laws are an attack on their second amendment right to bear arms. a new poll shows a slight drop over the past month in support of new gun control measures. 56% supported a ban on semiautomatic weapons, that's down from 62% in december in a poll taken right after the sandy hook massacre. we said there's a lot to

going on today. a major business story going on on top of everything else now. boeing with the jumbo-sized pr problem on its hands today as more airlines move to ground the much-hyped dreamliner. we'll have the latest on that. and kidnapped and held in a basement when she was just 10 years old. katie beers tells her story 20 years later. ♪ if loving you is wrong ♪ i don't wanna be right [ record scratch ] what?! it's not bad for you. it just tastes that way.

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welcome back to "early start." the brakes are on the future of air travel this morning. the faa temporarily grounded the boeing 787 dreamliner to address the potential fire risk from an on-board battery. this move comes after battery failures forced two japanese 787s to make emergency landings over the past two weeks. japan's two largest airliners

have also grounded their airline fleet. sandra endo is in washington for us. what exactly is this issue with the plane? >> reporter: the lithium-ion batteries used on boeing's marquee plane, the dreamliner, is in question here. citing a potential fire risk, the federal aviation administration is temporarily grounding all u.s.-operated dreamliners. in a statement the faa says before further flight, operators of u.s. registered boeing 787 aircraft must demonstrate to the faa that batteries are safe and in compliance. united airlines is the only u.s. airline with six dreamliners in service and says it will immediately comply with the directive and nearly all international regulators have also followed suit. boeing, for their part, they are defending their advanced plane which debuted in 2011 saying in a statement we are confident the 787 is safe, we stand behind its overall integrity. we'll be taking every step in the coming days to assure our

customers and the traveling public of the 787s safety and to return the airplanes to service. wednesday, as you mentioned, an al nippon airways flight had to make an emergency landing after an alarm indicated a possible battery problem and smoke in the forward compartment. last week a battery in the japan airlines dreamliner in boston caught on fire. that lithium battery manufactured by japanese company gsu ossa is being examined by the ntsb. >> that whole lithium battery thing is brand new, so it raises a lot of questions. i was reuas reading it was a de three years because of problems as they were attempting to launch. we know united operates six of the 50 787s in the world what are other countries doing now? >> usually when the faa gives out a directive, international

aviation communities follow suit. that's what we're seeing here. we know this morning, cnn has confirmed that european, chilean, indian and qatar authorities have grounded their fleets. they are not being flown until further notice. >> until they figure out if they're safe. sandra endo, thank you. as we said, there was a lot going on today. christine is here with the headlines. americans and other foreign nationals becoing held hostage algeria. islamic militants targeted a gas field targeting foreign officials there. several hostages were seized, including americans. 30 algerians taken hostage have managed to escape. an american soldier accused of murdering 16 afghan civilians, 9 of them children, he is set to be arraigned today. a defense attorney says staff

sergeant robert bales will plead not guilty. he is being held at a base in washington state. bales allegedly murdered the civilians in a nighttime raid last march. the world awaits oprah winfrey's one-on-one with lance armstrong tonight. it's widely reported he will admit to doping but what else will he say? the interview has not aired, but the damage control is underway. a source telling us that armstrong is already in talks to return some of his endorsement money. a northern california man facing a $14,000 property tax bill, paid his tab in rolls of coin. stacks of dollar bills. larry casper said he tried to pay half his bill weeks ago but the county would only accept payment in full. so he asked family to empty out their piggie banks. every year at this time, this becomes the park city, utah

sundance film festival. sundance traditionally a mecca for independent films. some 50,000 people expected to descend on the town over the next ten days. next week you guys are traveling to sundance, right? >> i'm heading to sundance. i'll be part of those 50,000 people. it's my first time at sundance. >> you are so fabulous, aren't you? >> yes, yes, i'm trying to figure out what to wear. if you have advice, let me know. >> you'll look glamorous, no doubt. >> gloves and boots. >> i'm hearing it's rather cold. it is now 18 minutes after the hour, time to get an early read on your news making national headlines this from the new york daily news as it revisits the story of katie beers. 20 years as a girl she was kidnapped and held for two weeks in a small dungeon-like room. a family aquaintance was convicted of kidnapping and

serving time in prison. beers is now a married mother of two and wrote a book about her ordeal. soledad will talk to katie beers this morning in the 8:00 hour of "starting point." in the washington times, petitioning the u.s. government online got harder. the white house is raising the minimum number of online signatures needed to get an official response from 25,000 to 100,000. it's getting a lot harder. signatures have to be compiled within 30 days of the petition filing. the white house director of digital strategy said the change was made to make sure they continue to give the most popular ideas the time that they deserve. one petition late last year called on the white house to secure funding to begin construction of the death star. by its closing date the petition received 34,435 signatures. to me, the death star always seemed impractical. there were too many glaring weaknesses. they built two, two were

destroyed. never seemed like a good investment for the u.s. government for me. >> thanks for weighing in on that. serious story. for more, head to our blog, cnn.com/earlystart. you can also follow us on twitter and facebook. to understand the scope of boeing's dreamliner fiasco, you have to know how much money is on line for the company. it's a lot. >> yeah. >> we'll break it down coming up. ever.

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minding your business this morning, u.s. stock futures trading mixed this morning. stocks closed mixed yesterday also. the dow was dragged down by boeing which is down more than 3% this morning. >> christine has all of the latest developments in boeing's dreamliner nightmare. you've been following this story closely. >> for years. this was the big new deal for boeing. boeing would lead the world with this new high-tech plane,

high-tech systems in engineering. it's a model in outsourcing. the company paired with companies around the world, including the japanese company that makes the liteon ion battery that is at the center of this. instead it's a lot of concerns now. the faa is grounding all dreamliners. united is the only one flying them now in the united states. around the world we're seeing other countries follow suit. the faa says before further flight, operators of boeing 787 aircraft must demonstrate to the federal aviation administration has the batteries are safe and in compliance. the batteries seem to be the focus, the heat that they're putting out causing alarms to go off or smoke in the cockpit. that's a problem. i wanted to show you the price tag here. a 787 model is $206 million.

206 million. imagine if you're an airline and you bought some of these, or you're awaiting delivery of these and you see these problems and you forked out $206 million for the aircraft. the 787-9 plane, 243 million, it's a larger model. these are the top of the airline experience. a lot of aviation buffs, business travelers, looking forward to getting these things in widespread circulation, now they are grounded today. we know qatar just grounded its five. there will be an investigation here. we have a statement from the japanesemaker of the battery. they are working with the american authorities to try to figure out what's going on there. that battery, by the way, is something that has been used for 20 years. it's not necessarily new technology, but in a commercial aircraft, this is the first time we've seen it. >> to replace it, would have to

go bigger, heavier, it would cut down on the range of these airplanes. >> boeing shares are down about 3%. if all else is equal, if boeing is down like that today, the dow jones will be down because of boeing's problems. it's 25 minutes past the hour. want to make more money and work less? >> yes. >> here's an idea, outsource yourself. the true story of how one guy did it. and if you're leaving the house right now, watch us any time, just go to cnn.com/tv. h cd from capital one, olaf gets great rewards for his small business! pizza! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! helium delivery. put it on my spark card! [ pop! ] [ garth ] why settle for less? great businesses deserve great rewards! awesome!!! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day!

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. americans held hostage. a tense standoff with militants underway right now in the sahara desert. >> and tight squeeze. a woman wedged two walls. and how an american office worker managed to outsource his own job to china. this is a serious story. >> welcome back. >> it is thursday morning, it is 30 minutes past the hour. we're following a developing story this morning. americans and other foreign nationals are being held hostage in algeria. we're told 30 algerians escaped after islamist militants attacked a gas field. leon panetta was quick to call it a terrorist attack as well. for more, let's go to dan rivers in london. what are the latest reports there on the hostage situation?

>> effectively, according to the minister of information in algeria, this is a standoff. the algerian security forces surrounded this gas plant in the far east of algeria. the islamists are holed up inside, holding a number of western hostages. we don't know the exact numbers. there's been a press conference this morning from the norwegian stat oil company. it is saying that it had 17 employees there, 5 escaped. and therefore 12 remain unaccounted for. not clear if all are being held hostage or if some escaped into the desert. it's a confused situation. the state department confirmed there are americans among those being held. we understand as well possibly british, japanese, french as well as those norwegians. a number of countries being

embroiled in this hostage crisis which looks like it may have been precipitated by algeria's decision to allow french planes to fly of the country as part of its ongoing military campaign in mali to the south. >> i know you're in the middle of this story and can't give us concrete numbers on the hostages, earlier when we were talking, elise told us it was maybe three or four americans. any more confirmation about that number of americans being held hostage? >> i've seen it widely reported as being possibly three americans, but as i said, the state department, for understandable reasons, is perhaps saying they don't want to get into numbers. this is a live situation, which is incredibly delicate and they feel it's unhelpful to start talking about the numbers or names of those being held. yes, i've seen the number of possibly three being reported in other media outlets.

we at cnn have no other confirmation on that at present. >> appreciate that. dan rivers live in london, thank. there is another big story this morning a story that kept a lot of us up all night wondering what the heck was going on. it's the manti te'o story. notre dame linebacker manti te'o drawing strength from the supposed death of his grandmother, she actually died, and the supposed death of his girlfriend, they supposedly happened within hours of each other. he drew on that strength to excel and lead the team to the bcs title game. but here's the rub, the girlfriend didn't die. she didn't even exist. now manti te'o claims he was duped. but one editor of deadspin has doubts. >> te'o's story that he's completely innocent in this doesn't shake through with us for a couple of reasons. first, we have a lot of stories about how they met. she was a student at stanford. they met after the 2009 football

game. we know that didn't happen. >> of course there are questions about where the story came from in the first place. there are a ton of questions here. we want to wait to hear from manti te'o himself here. notre dame officials claim manti never met this supposed girlfriend and they say te'o was the victim of a cruel hoax. it is billed as a night of remembrance in aurora, colorado, six months after a midnight movie massacre that left 12 people dead, the aurora multiplex is reopening its doors. tonight's ceremony is a way of moving forward, but some victims and families don't see it that way. they decided to boycott the event. another member of team obama about to get a promotion. sources say he will name denis mcdonough as his chief of staff. he would replace jack lew. mcdonough has been a trusted obama aide. the former south carolina

governor, mark sanford made it official on wednesday that he will run for that state's open congressional seat, this after his ex-wife jenni announced she would not. sanford said a state senator and old college friend convinced him he would be the perfect guy for that job. >> he called me and said mark, you know, you have to do this he said you were talking about deficit, government spending 1520 years ago when nobody was that much focused on it. they are now. here's a chance for you to take what you learned on the way up, what you learned on the way down, what you learned in congress before, what you learned in the governorship and apply it to what is really the debate of our time. >> you will remember his governorship, which was riddled with that story where he admitted an affair with a woman from argentina back in 2009. look at this, unless you're a little claustrophobic. this oregon woman spent nearly four hours trapped in an eight-inch space between an apartment building and a 20-foot

wall. this happened early wednesday morning in downtown portland. apparently she fell from a second floor smoking area and getting her out was not easy. firefighters had to cut through a section of wall and used air bags to widen the space. lieutenant rich chapman is the firefighter who pulled that woman out. >> we were assuring her we were doing everything to get her out. we weren't going home without her. that was it. we used basically some soapy water to lube up the sides of the walls. then between us and her, she was getting out. >> we were not going home without her. the look on her face when they finally pulled her out. look at her. that says it all. >> they used soapy water. like mcgiver out there. amazing entrepreneur or daring double crosser?

a verizon case study spins an amazing, mazing yarn. it says an employee named bob at an unnamed critical infrastructure company outsourced his own job to china. >> can you believe this? >> the company said it discovered its computer systems were being accessed from china it initially thought hackers were involved. not so. bob the programmer hired a firm to do his work, coming in overnight on a schedule that mimicked his 9:00 to 5:00 gig. he paid them one-fifth of his six-figure salary. when the investigation was over, bob was terminated. >> that's an incredible story. i thought that was a hoax. turns out to be true. incredible. ingenious also. >> so the president is out with his gun control proposals, but what do the people think? what do their representatives in congress think? we'll go live to washington coming up. plus just over a decade and

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there she is, washington, d.c. we will be in washington, d.c. monday morning for the reinauguration of president obama. he will start his second term on sunday. he will do it again on monday as well. yesterday president obama in front of a crowd that included parents of some of the children murdered in the connecticut school massacre, he called for expanded background checks for those buying guns and called on congress to reinstate an assault weapons ban, but many members of congress are cool to many of these proposals. cnn has new polling on how americans feel about stricter gun control measures. cnn political editor paul

steinhauser joins us now. >> reporter: after the sandy hook massacre, there was a call for gun control, but we're starting to see a dip in some of the support. look at some of these numbers. among the things the president suggested, registering your guns with the local police, look at that. 78% support last month. now down to 69%. what about a ban on those extended ammunition clips? still a majority support, 58%, but down a couple points from december. a ban on semiautomatic weapons. again, a majority support but down from december. john, no surprise here, but a partisan divide. a difference of opinion between democrats and republicans. democrats vastly supporting a lot of these measures. the republicans divided on gun registration and a minority supporting a man on ammo clips and semiautomatic weapons. >> given the makeup of congress, there's a lot of skepticism that

the president will be able to get all his proposals through what about the chance he can get some through? >> that's a big question, whether he goes for everything or a few things. john john, it all starts in the senate about two weeks from now. would think with democrats in control it would be an easy time? not so. if it all gets through the senate, an even higher hurdle in the house which is controlled by the republicans. >> harry reid only expressed luke warm enthusiasm for pitching this to the senate, but something will happen there. paul steinhauser, thank you very much. 43 minutes past the hour. so you screwed up at work and your boss decides to cut your salary in half. it's happening to one man. but you might not feel so bad for him when you find out who he is. that's coming up. and folks, if you're leaving the house now, watch us any time on your desktop or mobile phone at cnn.com/tv. when you have diabetes...

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a lot going on this morning. christine romans here with the top stories. americans and other foreign nationals being held hostage in algeria. islamic militants attacked a gas field near the country's border with libya, tar ggeting foreign employees who worked there two people were killed, several hostages including americans were seized, and now we know 30

algerians taken hostage have escaped. a north carolina principal was arrested for having sex with one of his female students. authorities questioned john ward after receiving an anonymous tip. he later admitted he was having an affair with a 16-year-old and that it took place off campus for six to eight months. jpmorgan chase cut in half jamie dimon's pay this week, all of this over the $6.2 billion loss in the london trading debacle. that brings his total down to a mere $11.5 million. how will he ever managed? a lot of people remember london whale was a trading loss. jamie dimon said he didn't want more regulation of banks, and under his nose there was a trading loss. lance armstrong setting the record straight. >> maybe. >> finally tonight? part one of his two and a half

hour entinterview with oprah winfrey will finally air. how will he admit to doping? no question millions will be watching, and his legacy and net worth are expect the to take hits in a statement, livestrong urged him to come completely clean. we expect lance to be completely truthful and forthcoming in his interview and with all of us in the cancer community. we expect we will have more to say at that time. armstrong stepped down as chairman from livestrong last october. george howell is following all of the developments. he is in austin, texas. damage control is already beginning, george. >> fair to say, yeah. this is not the best time for lance armstrong's image. a month ago here in the state of texas, he was given the badge of dishonor, so to speak, named the

bum steer of the year, it's a badge of dishonor put out by texas monthly magazine. when you talk to people here on the streets, you get the sense he has a divided public image. some people see him as a hero for all that he's done for cancer research, but others see him as sort of a villain. so we took some time to look into it. what would it take for lance armstrong to fix his image report, after what he says today. here is what one pr specialist who's handled cases like this has to say about advice for lance moving forward. take a listen. >> i think one of the things that i would sincerely hope that he appreciates at this moment is that it's up to him to own this situation, not try to cast blame or try to dilute what is, in fact, the situation that's upon

him right now. accept it. once you accept it, you're able to move forward. it's interesting, it's coming full circle, covering this 12 years ago, seeing lance armstrong's rise, and now fall. you know, also growing up here, i know how important he's been to this city. so it will be interesting to see what he has to say, how he says it as, again, he's reported to say that he will -- that he did, in fact, take part in doping. >> i put this question out on facebook when we first heard that oprah was interviewing him. somebody said find me a clean cyclist and i might care. there are a lot of differing opinions on this. lance's net worth, about $125 million last year. how will that be effected? >> well, he will definitely take hits, you know, if what is expected to happen will happen later today. several sponsors cut ties with

him. he could face several lawsuits from them, including the u.s. postal service. there are reports that they have been in talks about how much money he would pay back of the money they sponsored him. so he will definitely take a financial hit from this. so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. >> my gosh. everybody is going to be watching. george howell, thank you very much. appreciate it. and would you say cheating is now commonplace? whether it's in sports, on wall street, in schools and beyond. today at 3:00 eastern, brook baldwin examines why we cheat, the psychology and science behind it. that's at 3:00 p.m. today eastern. >> we talked about it a lot. i say this is a problem within the culture of sports, and they need to change it in order for the players not to feel like this is something they have to do in order to be competitive. >> i agree with that. but i also think you cannot exonerate or allow individuals

to get away with it. >> consequences. >> if you are traveling today, playing by the rules or cheating, check your flight because there's a huge swath of moistu moisture. >> no cheating in weather. no cheating in weather at all. we're looking at rain in most areas, look what's happening. we have some snow through parts of mississippi. it's coming down in some locations. really for the south, some locations could pick up two to four inches of snowfall. it's going to start in mississippi, and then spread over towards the east a bit more as we go into late morning as well as into the afternoon. right now just rain effecting areas like birmingham, huntsville and atlanta. expect delays there. for atlanta, with the rain around and washington, d.c., interstate 95, really just looking at some rain. even for washington, d.c., we could still see one to three inches of snowfall. this will help you visualize the snow amounts. they will be just to the north of interstate 40. you can also see in southwestern

parts of virginia, of course in the mountains, the southern parts of the appalachians, we will see the highest amounts. up to eight inches of snowfall in some locations. we have a winter storm warning in place for parts of mississippi until noon. we can see for northern georgia until late this evening, into the morning hours as we get across parts of the mid-atlantic. for your delays today, for atlanta, low clouds. we expect an hour or more for areas like d.c. and charlotte. we'll continue to follow that. back over to you guys. in new york, just a lot of clouds around for the afternoon. >> jennifer, thank you very much. if you're stuck in an airport, we are glad to spend this time with you. we have a packed hour ahead, including reaction to a bizarre story. heisman hopeful manti te'o and his lost love that never really existed. is he the victim of a cruel hoax? is there a piece of a puzzle

missing here? we are live from south bend. and we'll need a bigger bowl. a fisherman reels in a giant gold fish. did you know they could get this big? >> oh! check that out. what did they feed that gold fish? first, a college student gets the attention of bankers from wall street to london with the average resume. the free cover letter that is getting all the buzz this morning. i said it. how did i know? well, i didn't really. see, i figured low testosterone would decrease my sex drive... but when i started losing energy and became moody... that's when i had an honest conversation with my doctor. we discussed all the symptoms... then he gave me some blood tests. showed it was low t. that's it. it was a number -- not just me. [ male announcer ] today, men with low t have androgel 1.62% (testosterone gel). the #1 prescribed topical testosterone replacement therapy, increases testosterone when used daily. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor

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. welcome back to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin along with john berman. we are looking at the cnn trends on the web this morning.

>> here she is, miss millennium. >> she looks amazing. >> the magazine is declaring her miss millennium. there are still 987 years left in this millennium, so you know, not saying that their judgment is off, i'm saying wait a bit. the list also includes christina hendricks, and s.i. cover girl katie upton. >> i get if you ask the guys in the studio, they wouldn't know. they were watching the pictures. >> exactly. >> that's all they cared about. late night laughs. conan talking about "zero dark birdie." listen. >> crazy story. who here plays angry birds? put it away, it's rude. it's reported that if you're playing angry birds, the company is tracking your location. that just came out. yeah. this may seem silly to you, but it's actually how we got bin laden.

oh, no! >> just let me get the golden egg. >> his last words were die piggie. you die, pig. no! why am i doing adam sandler now? no! >> "early start" continues right now. duped at notre dame. one of the most inspirational sports stories of the past year proves to be a hoax. who is to blame? >> is the dreamliner a lemon? boeing's jumbo jet now grounded in america and europe, too. standoff in the desert. americans are among those held captive right now by militants in algeria. good morning to you. thank you for being with us this morning. i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm john berman. it's 6:00 a.m. in the east, january 17th. we've been talking about it all morning. it is a crazy, nutty story.

the inspirational story behind notre dame linebacker manti te'o's amazing season is a hoax. you may remember the events that te'o says motivated his season, his grandmother and his amazing season. his grandmother and girlfriend dying on the same day. his young girlfriend passing away from leukemia. what he said at the time. >> i cried, i yelled. never felt that way before. this is six hours ago i just found out grandma passed away, and you take -- you know, the love of my life. last thing she said to me was i love you. >> so america was told how te'o fought through the grief over her death as he led the irish to the bcs championship game. but it turns out the girlfriend did not die. in fact, the website deadspin reports that the girlfriend never existed. notre dame university says that te'o was the victim of a hoax.

ted ro roland live in south ben indiana. >> reporter: this morning, a lot of questions out there. one thing absolutely clear this morning, here in south bend, the university of notre dame is standing by their star football player. university of notre dame athletic director fought back tears while discussing manti te'o at a late news conference. he is convinced that te'o was the victim of an elaborate hoax. >> the thick i am most sad of, sad about, is -- sorry. the single most trusting human being i have ever met will never be able to trust in the same way again in his life. >> reporter: during the football season, the story of the star

linebacker losing his grandmother and girlfriend on the same day were touched. they were touched by how in love he was with the girl he called his soul mate. >> i cried, i yelled, never felt that way before. six hours ago i found out grandma passed away, and you take the love of my life. >> reporter: on the day of his girlfriend's supposed funeral, te'o played football. after the game, notre dame's football coach, brian kelly, awarded the football we know to the girl that doesn't exist. >> i want to award this football to lennae, and i want you to take this ball back to hawaii. >> te'o told his coaches about the hoax on december 26th. they kept it under wraps, despite the fact that the media was still telling the story up to the national champion

football game. >> we established a parameter, this was manti's story to tell. we wanted to know if it would be told and when it would be told, but it was his to tell. >> reporter: many of the people who broke the story don't think it adds up. >> te'o's story that he is completely innocent doesn't shake through with us. >> reporter: why didn't manti te'o ever mention that he never actually met lennae when he talked about how much he loved her. how could he have been so in love with someone he had never actually met face to face? >> i think as manti tells the story, you will see the same thing i saw, it does fully line up. >> john, university officials say they expect that manti te'o will tell his story in some form

over the next couple of days, no word from te'o or his agent as to specifics, when he will tell his story, how he will tell the story. >> there is no question, notre dame is really standing behind him right now. they say they believe the story 100%. clearly they do. we are still waiting to hear from te'o in a public statement where he talks out loud. he released a statement on paper. >> reporter: he did. released a statement. i'll read some of the. he said i developed an emotional relationship with a woman i met online. we maintained what i thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone. and i grew to care deeply about her. to realize that i was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating. >> there are a great number of questions about the journalism involved in this story from the very beginning. there is no question, there was

some great journalism here at the end from deadspin. how did they uncover this? >> reporter: yeah, really, they said -- for some reason they thought the story maybe didn't add up and went through, started to look at the pieces of the story, including the girlfriend at stanford university. there was a story written by the local newspaper here, supposedly with te'o's help talking about this very romantic meeting about how they meet, eyes, et cetera, and they found out she didn't go to stanford. no record of her at stanford. they looked at other pieces of the puzzle. take a listen to what one of the reporters told us last night. >> several articles insisted she had either been a stanford student or stanford alumni, and nothing checked out there. we called all of the mortuaries and funeral homes in carson, california. several reports reported she was buried.

no reports on it. and that told us something really weird was going on here. >> reporter: something really weird going on. and still something really weird going on. and until manti te'o addresses the media in some form, people will have questions about this story. >> ted rowlands, thank you. now to the winter storm warnings in effect today from mississippi to washington, d.c. meteorologist jennifer delgado with a look at that. >> hi, gs. you are right. we are tracking snow out there. affecting parts of mississippi. most of the area right now for areas including south and parts of mid-atlantic, dealing with rain. but we zoom in a bit more, and you can see in mississippi, jackson, dealing with snow. coming down, interstate 55. now for mississippi as well as alabama, it's going to be a little lighter there. we move into areas like virginia and north carolina, that snow is going to be quite heavy. some of the locations up to 8 inches. atlanta, rain for you right now

in the morning, parts of the northeast or should say mid-atlantic, washington, d.c., showers along interstate 95, when is the snow going to come in? we get the cold air to chase up and catch up with the rain, we'll see it changing over to snow. more in the late morning and afternoon into the evening, you can kind receive for yourself, some of the totals, happiest north of interstate 40. affecting areas like roanoke and the mountains of north carolina. here is the time for you. you can see in the morning for the southwest and for regions like alabama and we go into parts of virginia, it will last until 1:00 a.m. for washington, d.c. we are talking about potentially 1 to 3 inches of snowfall. tomorrow will be tricky out there. very icy conditions on the roadways anywhere the storm has move ahead long. back to you. >> every washington south. 1 to 3 inches of snow. bag, giant deal. jennifer delgado, thank you very much.

>> everybody makes it a big deal. a developing story this morning. americans and other foreign nationals are being held hostage in algeria. we're told 30 algerians escaped after islamist militants attacked a gas field. two people killed. defense secretary leon panetta quick to call it a terrorist attack. let's bring in cnn's foreign affairs reporter in washington for us. have you been covering the report since it broke this response to france's attack of militants in mali. what do you know? >> that's what they are saying. this mask brigade is saying it's in response for algeria giving france its air space, but what we're told by our sources this has a very sophisticated level of planning, which indicates it could have predated this french intervention in the last week or so. so the group does have a lot of

criminal ties, we are wondering if it could have been something for money or to raise credentials with al qaeda and they used this as an opportunistic excuse to launch this attack. >> what is being done to get them out, elise? >> the algerians have the lead. they say they won't negotiate with terrorists. they don't negotiate for hostages and the u.s. doesn't do that either. but you have the united states, france, britain, japan, all these countries whose citizens are there. the u.s. does have assets in the region so they could be planning some kind of rescue operation, leon panetta, defense secretary, says they will spare no efforts to try and get them out. unclear how they can get them out unless they launch some kind of attack. it doesn't look like they are ready to give knees terrorists some of their demands, which include the release of their

prisoners held by algeria and their groups, want them sent to mali where islamics are hanging out right now. >> developing details that are you watching for us, elise labott in washington. and president obama's call to reduce gun violence is receiving a cool reception on capitol hill. he unveiled a list of proposals, including the ban on the sale of assault weapons and instituting background checks on all gun sales. the president released his proposals one month after the massacre in newtown, connecticut, that killed 20 first graders and six adults. > >> if there is even one thing we can do to reduce the violence, one life that can be saved, then we've got an obligation to try. >> there are many members of congress who have already said they believe that gun control laws are an attack on the second amendment rights to bear arms. a new poll shows a slight

drop over the past month in support of gun control measures. a cnn/time magazine/orc poll shows 56% support a ban on semi automatic weapons. down from 62% in december, right after the sandy hook massacre. the world waits for the interview with lance armstrong. it starts tonight and widely reported that lance armstrong will admit to doping. what else will he say? it hasn't aired, but damage control well underway. armstrong in talks to return some endorsement money. boeing with a jumbo-sized pr problem on its hands, as more airlines move to ground the dreamliner. latest, coming up. plus, going nowhere. high drama on the high seas with the u.s. navy ship stuck. we'll have details on that. ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you make 70,000 trades a second...

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welcome back to "early start." a major blow to boeing. the 787 dreamliner grounded here

and overseas because of the risk of battery fires. it forced two japanese carriers to make emergency landings. united the only u.s. airline flying the dreamliner, and the faa ordered it to stop for now. sara endolive with details. not a great moment for boeing. >> not at all. the lithium batteries are in question here. citing potential fire risk, the faa is temporarily grounding all u.s. dreamliners, after a second battery incident on a dreamliner in less than two weeks. in a statement, the faa says before further flight, operators of u.s. registered boeing 7 7 aircraft must demonstrate to the faa that the batteries are safe and in compliance. united airlines is the only u.s. airline with six dreamliners in service and will immediately will comply with the directive.

nearly all other international operators with dreamliners are following suit. boeing defends their advanced plane, debuting in 2011, saying we are confident that the 787 is safe and we stand behind its overall integrity. we will take every necessary step in the coming days to assurue urour customers and the traveling public of the 787's safety and to return the airplanes to service. john. >> sandra endo, thank you very much. 16 minutes past the hour. let's get you up to date. here is christine romans. >> americans and other foreign nationals are being held hostage in algeria at this hour. a gas field was attacked, targeting foreign employees working there. two people killed. several hosages, including americans, were seized. 30 algerians taken hostage somehow managed to escape. an american soldier accused

of murdering 16 afghan civilians, 9 of them children, is set to be arraigned today. robert bales will plead not guilty. he allegedly murdered the civilians in nighttime raids last march. he could face the death penalty if convicted. the "uss guardian" headed to its next port of call when it got stuck in the sulu sea. no world of injuries among the crew of 81. crew members are trying to set the ship free of that reef. notre dame officials say linebacker manti te'o the target of an elb rate hoax. deadspin says his girlfriend's death, said to be an inspiration, the girlfriend never existed. notre dame says he was duped into an online relationship. te'o called it "someone's sick joke." >> the subject of every water

cooler. the reason for water coolers. >> i can't wait to hear from him. just to see what he has to say, how he explains it all. thank you, christine. 17 minutes past the hour. time for early reads, local news making national headlines. beginning a story in "the chicago tribune." city council committee has given initial approving to staggering $33 million payout to settle two cases of police misconduct. including a settlement to christina isleman. the largest payout. isleman was arrested at midway international during a bipolar breakdown. she was released the next day in one of the most crime-ridden neighborhoods, she was abducted, raped, and either thrown or fell out of a window seven floors up. she survived, but suffered severe and permanent brain damage.

>> what an awful story. >> it's terrible. what an outrage. do you keep going over your smartphone minutes? facebook wants to help. they offer free voice calling in the u.s. through their facebook messenger app. unfortunately for an droid and window services, it is only available on the iphone for now, so skype offers something like this. in my understanding of it, and admitedly i have limited understanding. my understanding, you do wrack up data. if your data plan is limited, you could end up paying more. >> a lot more. it's happened to me. i have been the victim with a 14-year-old son. you have to go back and say can you up it. and they make you pay. you might wait longer and pay more. >> big news in the airline industry could mean bad news for travelers, christine romans has that in today's road warriors. >> american airlines boards will make a decision bit u.s. airways

merger by the end of the month. if it happens, air fares could go up. and be prepared for computer hiccups by combining computer systems which may delay some flights. if you have frequent flier miles with either airline or earned elite status, don't worry. usually airlines work hard to accommodate loyal customers. and there could be a pilot shortage which could result in fewer flights to smaller cities. copilots will have to have as many hours as pilots starting in august it will take 8,000 new pilots a year to replace retiring pilots. larger airlines will scoop up available pilots, leaving regional airlines scrambling. some gun owners might not like the talk of stricter gun control. so far, gunmakers are reaping the benefits. that's coming up.

23 minutes past the hour. we're minding your business this

morning. u.s. stock futures trading mixes this morning after markets closed mixed yesterday as well. >> christine romans has business head line headlines this morning, including info on gun stock. >> boeing down 3% premarket. one of the 30 dow stuocks. and gun stocks, all of the talk of limiting gun violence, trying to ameliorate the situation of gun violence in movie theaters and schools has sent gun stocks through the roof. more on the run on guns and how gunmakers really doing well here. smith & wesson, past 2 5 2 weeks, up 92%. since newtown, up nicely, since newtown. ste

stearns & ruligger up. people are rushing to get guns, buying modern sporting rifles like the one at newtown. back order or sold out around the country. you can't even get them. many stocks of retailer who's sell these hinge things are also going up. business has been very good for the gun industry it is frankly thriving. similar to calsters, the teachers retirement plan, the new york state comp advertitroln is freezing them. some investors, teachers, don't feel great about owning commercial firearms even as stocks going up. and it's a going up. and rules about foreclosures, seeing new housing rules going out this month. and they want to protect homeowners facing foreclosures and will put restrictions on

foreclosures, and we have to consider alternatives, and that seems like a no brainer and a clear mortgage statements and they have to give people early warnings on whether interest rates on their payment will go up. things that sound reasonable to do. now federal officials say they will put that into -- you know, put that into practice. >> what's the one thing we need to know about our money? >> you can still refinance. rates are still low. we'll hear a new 30-year fixed rate mortgage. 3.4%. >> look at that. >> might even be lower when we get a new read. 2.66. 15-year rate. that's the popular refinancing tool. even as we talk about getting -- talk about getting people into mortgages they can afford. helping people understand. keeping people out of foreclosure. we're talking about all of this, and i want to remind people, rates are still very, very low. if you have a mortgage in 5% or 6% zone and people still do,

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lots of questions surround notre dame lineback manti te'o, he says he was the victim of a cruel hoax. why didn't he or the school come clean sooner? wet weather, snow, from mississippi to the nation's capital, could put a monkey reference wrench in your travel plans. sexiest women of the

millennium. one magnificent zone calling it a decade into the millennium. >> welcome back to "early start." 30 minutes after the hour right now. notre dame officials are coming to the defense of manti take yo te'o, who they say was the victim of a cruel hoax. the story about te'o's girlfriend dying which inspired him to play, was not real. she didn't exist. the university says te'o was duped into a relationship with a woman carried out online and over the phone. there are so many questions here. ted rowlands following this bizarre story on the ground in south bend, indiana. good morning, ted. >> reporter: good morning, john. last night the athletic director at notre dame held a press conference and he believes manti te'o because he sat down and talked with him on two separate occasions for hours and after that discussion, he absolutely believed manti te'o had nothing to do with this, other than

being the victim. now, one of the big questions you alluded to it a moment ago, is timing. manti te'o apparently found out his girlfriend was fictitious in early december. he didn't tell the school until december 26th and the school allowed the truth to be concealed during the buildup of the national championship game. every media outlet talked about te'o and the fact that this guy finished second in the heisman trophy voting and his girlfriend died a tragic death of leukemia. listen to what the athletic director said about the decision not to come forward with the truth before that game. >> so from the outset, we established a parameter this was manti's story to tell. we want wanted to know when and parameters, but this was his story to tell.

>> reporter: when will manti tell his story? officials at notre dame expect it over the next few days. no word from te'o or his agent about exactly when or how he will tell the story. >> te'o has yet to speak out loud publicly. what have we heard from his people? >> he released a statement to deadspin, the folks who broke the story. i'll read part of the to you. i dwropeveloped an emotional relationship with a woman i met online. we maintained what i thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone. i grew to care deeply about her. to realize that i was the victim of somewhat was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was and is, painful and humiliating. >> i guess we don't know what the truth is yet. this is a very, very sad and bizarre story. ted rowlands, great to see you this morning. 33 minutes past the hour.

a hostage crisis unfolding in algeria. islamic terrorists are holding americans and other foreigners at a natural gas complex. details of the kidnapping and exact number being held remains hazy. confirmation, 13 norwegians taken, along with 5 japanese and 1 irish national. at least 3 americans, maybe more. and an unconfirmed british workers as well. 30 algerians taken hostage did manage to escape. let's go to dan rivers in london. he will on p leon pan 80 etta is calling th terrorist attack. what do you know? >> the hostage takers and several werners are held. within the last few minutes, the algerian news service, aps, is reporting that 30 algerians have escaped. we haven't been able to get

confirmation on that. and there is news from the head of a french catering company that operates in this gas plant, that 150 algerian employees are being able to move around freely inside the plant. can carry on work, but can't leave. the werners are being kept in a separate wing of the base, tied up, filmed, electricity cut off and mobile phones have no charge. a picture of what must be a terrifying situation for the hostages there. we don't know how many americans for sure are being held. the state department isn't confirming numbers. three or maybe four. but we know there are americans as well as brits, french, japanese, and norwegians as you mentioned. >> thank you for the new information. >> so it's already coming down in some parts of the country. a winter storm hitting places that don't know snow very well

at all. jennifer delgado with a look at the snow coming down down south. >> hi, guys. watching snow through parts of mississippi. a lot of this is really going to start to come down as we get later to the afternoon and the evening hours. you can see right now, most of the areas affected by rain from delaware to parts of alabama. the snow in mississippi, coming down good in some parts, right along interstate 55 for many areas, talking about two to four inches of snowfall. and we have winter storm warnings in place, where areas like mississippi, that's going to last until late this morning, but for other areas like georgia, goes into the evening and then parts of mid-atlantic, goes until early tomorrow morning. we time the snow for you, this is 1:00, why we are talking that more of this will come later in the day. we have to get the cold air in place with the moisture. move ahead to 6:00 p.m., it spread into areas like virginia,

north carolina and even into the overnight hours. some locations you can see we're talking higher elevations, 6 to 8 inches of snowfall, including parts of north carolina as well as areas just to the west of roanoke. we talked about the snow out there and how this could cause travel delays. we'll look at low clouds around for areas like atlanta, charlotte, d.c. metro. speaking of d.c., the potential between 1 to 3 inches of snowfall. traveling on the roadways will be dangerous. we have winter storm warnings in place. the setup for today, snow, rain, warm for areas like texas and into california as well as in arizona. temperatures returning to the 70s. i think i hear some applause there. back to you. >> jennifer delgado, thank you for that. >> suffered from the 30s. >> looking forward to summer. a long way off. top cnn trends. amazing entrepreneur or daring

double crosser? a really amazing story. a guy named bob who worked at a critical infrastructure company outsourced his job to china. initially they thought there were hackers involved, but that was not the case, bob, the programmer, hired a firm in shenyang to do his work. overnight on a schedule that mimicked his 9:00 to 5:00 gig, paying them one-fifth of his six-figure salary. the moral of the story, don't do this. >> i don't know. beyonce, showing some skin on a gq shoot. the magazine declaring her ms. millennium. >> blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. look at the pictures. >> there are still 987 years left to unseat her. the sexiest women of the

millennium includes si cover girl kate upton. >> got a little tongue tied. the sundance film festival attracts biggest names in entertainme entertainment. sundance opens today in park city, utah. over the next ten days, 50,000 people will hit the town. first look at the next big thing in the believes. guess who is going? i'm going. i get to experience sundance first hand next week. we'll be reporting live from park city, utah. zoraida sambolin will be experiencing it. john berman will stay here. >> i will work really hard for you. coming up here in new york. tight squeeze. this poor woman somehow became wedged between two walls. crazy picture. plus, is it too soon? live to colorado where the aurora movie theater set to reopen after one of the darkest

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welcome back to "early start." 42 minutes past the hour. the colorado movie theater where

12 were killed and 60 pounded is set to start showing movies again. the theater will reopen today with the private ceremony for victims, first responders and officials. the theater was opened this week for private visits from family members. a formal reopening will be held tonight, where aurora's mayor and colorado's governor are expected to speak. but many families have decided not to attend tonight. jessica watts, whose cousin, jonathan blunk, was a victim in aurora, someone of those family members. we spoke about a week ago, and i appreciate you coming back. no interest in visiting this week or going to the reopening, why is that? >> because i felt like it was -- the fact that we were being used as pawns. that they were using us as momentum for their public ticket sales by telling the public, look, the family members of this massacre came back, and it's

okay for them to come back it will be okay for you too. >> some of the families did attend and they said it was therapeutic for them. it will help them actually go on with their lives. do you see the value in that? >> it depends on the healing process. all of us are at different stages of healing and grief and, you know, different levels of trauma. and it kind of depends on, you know, what people feel, you know, as right to do. i know of a few family members that are going back, but i choose not to, just because i would rather focus my energy on, you know, how we can make a change. you know, in policies, kind of according to what president obama wanted to do yesterday. >> let's talk about that. the president unveiled plans to curb gun violence yesterday. i want to listen to part of what

he said. >> okay. >> congress should restore a ban on military style assault weapons and a ten-round limit for magazines. the type of assault rifle used in aurora, for example, when pared with a high-capacity magazine has one purpose. to pump out as many bullets as quickly as possible. >> it looks unlikely that the president will get ab assault ban by the senate. how do you feel about that? >> you know, just the fact that he is hearing our plea not only from aurora, but from newtown, from tucson, from all of these different places, you know, our pleas are being heard, and that is that we hope that, you know, other -- there are other people out there every day, getting killed, and we're trying to c b curb -- get some kind of policy in place so 34 people aren't

affected every day due to gun violence. >> almost two weeks ago, you mentioned what would help you heal if cinemark would reach out to you. i know they are embroiled in a lawsuit. have they contacted you at all? >> no, they have not. and i don't know that they have contacted any families. >> and that is something that would help you with your healing process? >> absolutely. it would help, because we would know they were at least thinking about us and had our best interests at heart. >> jessica watts, cousin of aurora shooting victim jonathan blunk. and we'll pray for your healing to happen as well. >> 46 minutes after the hour. notre dame officials say manti te'o was the target of an elb rate hoax. his girlfriend's death, said to be an inspiration during the team's biggest games, the girlfriend never even existed.

te'o was duped spew an online relationship in a statement, manti te'o called it someone's sick joke. reporters haven't had a question to question him in person yet. president obama promoting from within. dennis mcdonough will replace jack lew. a key voice for the president on foreign policy. take a look at this. unless you are at all claustrophobic. this oregon woman spent four hours trapped in an eight-inch space. this happened early wednesday morning in downtown portland. she apparently fell from a second floor smoking area, and getting her out, so tough. firefighter has to cut through a section of wall and use airbags to widen the space. rich chapman is the firefighter who pulled this woman out. >> to get her out, get her out as soon as possible and we weren't going home without her. that was it.

we used basically soapy water to lube up the sides of the walls, and between us and her, she was getting out. >> airbags and soapy water. unbelievable, and look on her face when she made it out. oh, what a relief. >> oh, my goodness. good for her. a detroit air man says he was fishing for perch. but he found gold. last friday as in a big, gargantuan goldfish. three pounds, close to 15 inches long. the fisherman has fished lake st. clair, 15 years, and this is his first goldfish. >> looks like something from the simpsons. >> 4 minutes after the hour. the president is out with gun control proposals, what do people think? what are the representatives in congress think? we'll go live to washington, coming up. when we built the cadillac ats from the ground up

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welcome back to "early start." soledad o'bri brien joins us with a look ahead. >> wow, wow, wow. this mystery with manti te'o. we'll explore the biz fwlar mystery that surround the dead girlfriend. there are so many weird questions in the story. the assignment editor from deadspin broke this story. he will join me this morning to talk about what threads they followed to figure out what happened and we'll speak with espn's mike & mike.

riveting to hear what they think about this. >> my brain is broken. >> so bizarre. >> and we'll talk about the hostage situation. hostages in a foreign country. we're following the militant standoff in algeria. are americans and how many are they among the hostages. some of these hostages have escaped. those escapees are americans among the escapees? we'll ask peter king this morning. 20 years rescued from a dungeon. if you remember this story, the most riveting story in long island when i was first walking. how she survived that horrify g ing ordeal and says in some weird way, the kidnapping was the best thing that happened to hear because her life was so treacherous up to that point. >> a lot going on. >> fasten your seat belt, stay with us. 53 minutes past the hour and president obama has moved to

tighten gun control laws one month after the elementary school massacre in connecticut. yesterday, signed 23 executive actions to strengthen existing gun laws and calls on congress toto tighten background checks and reinstate assault bans weapons. congress cool to his proposals. what about the american public? new data from paul stine hauser in washington with the latest information. >> reporter: good morning, john. we saw a surge in support for gun control is that starting to fade a bit? brand new cnn/time/orc poll. take a look. some of the things the president announced. still a lot of support for gun registration, but down from 78 to 69%. and same on ban on extended ammunition clips and ban on semi

automatic guns. still support, but down from december. and democrats much more than republicans supporting what has been suggested by the president. john, all of the action begins in the senate two weeks from now. will any of this get passed through the democratic controlled senate? >> will it all get passed, parts of the passed? paul, thank you for being with us. 55 minutes past the hour. today's best advice. a young filmmaker featured at sundance, starts today. >> who is going? >> i'm going. >> and a tense standoff in the desert with americans held host aung. a live report minutes away. i have low testosterone. there, i said it. how did i know? well, i didn't really. see, i figured low testosterone would decrease my sex drive... but when i started losing energy and became moody... that's when i had an honest conversation with my doctor. we discussed all the symptoms...

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left right now. >> we wrap it up with best advise. >> today's advice come from filmmaker spencer gillis. >> the best advice anyone ever gave me, if you want to be a